3 months ago
5
Music students will be required to compose an original piece of music while drama students will undertake a reformed theory exam under the HSC’s long-awaited – and controversial – new music and drama syllabuses.
In a major backflip, the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) has scrapped most of its proposed changes to music and drama, including removing group drama performances and extending the length of theory examinations for drama and Music 1.
The new drama and music syllabus was released on Thursday as part of a “once-in-a-generation” curriculum overhaul. Its release came more than a year after the curriculum authority’s widely panned original draft syllabus was put up for public consultation.
HSC drama students will keep their group performance. Credit: Janie Barrett
Under the new syllabus, all students taking Music 1 – the most popular HSC music subject – will be required to create an original composition. Dr Thomas Fienberg from the Australian Society for Music Education described the change as “big, big, big paradigm shift”.
“The impact of this is going to be massive on how music is taught – not only in year 11 and 12, but throughout schooling,” he said.
“What teachers will now need to do is they will need to prepare their students to be able to record original music. It’s a huge step forward.
“It means that we’re going to be preparing a future generation of creators, not just a future generation of replicators.”
The original draft syllabus released in November last year was widely criticised by teachers and peak bodies, as well as high-profile musicians and actors, who condemned it for being too focused on theory.
NESA CEO Paul Martin conceded he was “astonished” by the vitriol but was confident the curriculum authority had listened to the feedback.
“We heard all the complaints and the issues and we have done targeted consultation for 12 months. We have made some significant amendments to make sure performance is valued, the content essential for us is still there,” he said.
Loading
The initial draft doubled examination time for students studying Music 1 and moved to decrease the weighting of practical performances on a student’s final mark. Under the final syllabus, the written exam will remain at 70 minutes and still be worth 40 per cent of the final mark.
Drama NSW president Kelly Young said the syllabus was a “reasonable improvement”. Under the changes, the drama theory exam will be three extended response questions instead of two.
In the current exam, students had four texts to analyse and two essays to write. Now, students only have to analyse two texts in one essay, answer two short answers, and a fourth question about their ensemble performance.
The drama exam will remain at 90 minutes long.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.
Most Viewed in Politics
Loading
